Fred had nothing further to say, and the meal was over; so the family rose.
'Now scamper off,' said the father cheerfully to the young people, 'and be sure you and mother are ready after dinner for the pantomime.'
The children left the room. When they had gone, Parkinson turned to the sideboard, and, looking at the thigh-bone of a man lying on some raw wool, said triumphantly to his wife while pointing to the relic,--
'This will create a powerful sensation; it is the only one of that period ever found. This vessel, too'--indicating a clumsy and imperfect stone cup, not unlike a chemist's mortar--'is the only one of its kind found of that period. The two go hand-in-hand to prove facts of enormous interest. All Europe will speak of these to-morrow. There will be leading articles in half the papers, and essays in all the more important reviews. What a privilege it is, Alice, to be allowed to introduce such wonders to the world!'
She looked with sad, wistful eyes at the waifs which had drifted down from the hidden periods of antique time.
What a contrast that battered vessel and that bleached bone to the bright, trim dining-room, the sound of the young children's laughter as they went upstairs to the school-room, and the bright face of Mrs Parkinson as she bent over the relics!
'Wasn't that very smart of Fred?' said Mrs Parkinson, on coming back from the dreary history of this bone and this vessel to the beautiful story of her own children.
'Yes, very smart. He'll be a clever man if he grows up as he now promises.'
'It was good of you, Willie, to answer him as you did. It was good of you. Thank you, love.'
'Alice, I promised you you should bring the children up as you and I were brought up, and you shall. Loo will always be as she is now. God grant the boy may be also as he is now. At all events,' his face grew sad, and his voice faltered slightly, as he added, 'it will be time enough for him to eat the forbidden fruit when he grows up and is strong. I shall never offer him any; and now, good-bye, love. I am off to the Society. We shall have a big gathering to-day, and a man who died long before the Flood will be the hero whom I shall have to introduce.'
He gathered up the thigh-bone and the stone vessel, placed them in a case on the floor, closed the case, kissed his wife, and, running blithely down the steps of the front door, hailed a passing hansom and jumped in.